The Congress on Tuesday named its Telangana unit chief Revanth Reddy as the chief of its legislature party, paving the way for him to become the state’s next chief minister.

Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal made the announcement and said that the party will “deliver a clean and able government that will provide maximum governance”.

Reddy will be the second chief minister of India’s youngest state. Former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao held the position from 2014 to 2023. Rao resigned after his Bharat Rashtra Samithi party lost the Assembly elections on Sunday.

The decision to appoint Reddy to the top post was taken at a meeting in Delhi on Tuesday. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and national general secretary KC Venugopal were present. A Congress Legislature Party meeting was subsequently held in Hyderabad before the official announcement.

Reddy won from the Kodangal Assembly constituency by 32,532 votes while the Congress bagged 64 of the state’s 119 Assembly constituencies, as per Election Commission data. A total of 60 seats is needed to form a government.

Reddy was appointed as the Congress’ Telangana president in July 2021 and steered the party to its first victory in Telangana and its only win in the Assembly elections held in five states.

In 2018, the Congress had secured just 19 seats in Telangana.

Reddy previously served as an MP from the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha constituency from 2019 to 2023 and has served as an MLA from Kodangal twice.